By State Representative, Leon D. Young
Leon D. Young
Why is America awash with easily obtainable firearms? Have 300 million firearms in circulation (and counting) made us any safer as a nation?
Moreover, why is Congress unwilling or incapable of passing commonsense gun control measures that even the majority of National Rifle Association (NRA) members support? These are just some of the many thought-provoking questions, relative to the ongoing gun control debate, that merit answers.
We all remember President Obama’s stirring and passionate remarks to the victims’ families and the nation following the unspeakable tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. Moreover, during his State of the Union Address, the president implored members of Congress to support him in his call that measures banning guns “deserve a vote.”
Courageously, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) seized the gauntlet by introducing federal legislation to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines (Assault Weapons Ban of 2013; Senate Bill 150). The measure has advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but now faces an uncertain future in terms deliberation by the full Senate.
Just last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid intimated that the Obama-backed proposal, authored by Sen. Feinstein, was dead; suggesting that the measure could barely garner 40 votes, even though there are 55 Democrats in their caucus. But now, Majority Leader Reid appears to be singing a different tune. He has promised that the gun control measure would be offered as an amendment when he [Reid] rolls out the package after the Easter recess.
In truth, passing legislation that bans assault weapons on the federal level shouldn’t be an impossible task. After all, Senator Feinstein successfully authored a federal assault ban in 1994. Unfortunately, the law had a 10-year sunset, and Congress failed to renew it when it expired in 2004.
There is something terribly amiss with the gun culture in this country. Since 1982, there have been at least 62 mass shootings across the United States. And they have been accelerating in recent years: 25 of these shootings have occurred since 2006, and seven took place in 2012 alone.
The one common thread running through these mass shootings in recent years – from Aurora, Colorado, to Tucson, Arizona, to Blacksburg, Virginia – is that the gunman used a military-style, semiautomatic assault weapon or large-capacity ammunition magazine to commit the unspeakable horror.
In closing, the very notion that nothing can or should be done to control the spread of weapons of mass destruction is completely ridiculous and is an affront to ALL the innocent victims who have lost (and will lose) their lives in this senseless carnage of mass shootings. America can and must do better in ensuring the public safety and welfare of its citizenry.
A bipartisan coalition of 866 mayors from across the country vehemently supports the federal Assault Weapons Ban of 2013. It’s time for Washington to stop engaging in its own game of political football regarding sensible gun prevention measures.